Metadata: The Board of Governorate Estland
Collection
- Country:
- Estonia
- Holding institution:
- Historical Archive of Estonian National Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Eesti Rahvusarhiivi Ajalooarhiiv (EAA)
- Postal address:
- Tartu, Nooruse 3, 50411
- Phone number:
- +372 738 7521
- Web address:
- www.ra.ee
- Email:
- tartu@ra.ee
- Reference number:
- EAA30
- Title:
- The Board of Governorate Estland
- Title (official language):
- Eestimaa kubermanguvalitsus
- Creator/accumulator:
- The Board of Governorate Estland
- Date(s):
- 1744/1917
- Language:
- German
- Russian
- Extent:
- 103,005 files, including 1,495 Jewish-related records
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection is divided into eleven inventories. Most of these files are part of the Russian department (Russian expedition) of the Board of Governorate Estland (1484 records, 1801-1919, inventories 2-10). The rest of the files belong to the German department (German expedition) including 11 records (1826-1868, inventories 1, 4, 6, 9 and 11).
Most of the collection relates to residence and citizenship issues (inventories 2, 5, 8 and 9, 1831-1917). These files contain requests for residence permits in the Estland governorate (inventory 2, 8 and 9, 1842-1917), including correspondence on the issuance of a residence permit in Reval (inventory 8, 1869-1917), applications for a residence permit in Reval (inventory 9, 1886-1909), Wierland County (inventory 9, 1887-1917), Narva (inventory 9, 1887), Jõhvi (inventory 9, 1888-1897), Gallinap (inventory 9, 1888-1889), Weissenstein (inventory 9, 1888-1917), Tapa (inventory 9, 1889-1917), Baltic Port (inventory 9, 1887-1911), Leal (inventory 9, 1889-1899), Haapsalu County (inventory 9, 1889-1915), Ambla (inventory 9, 1891-1893), Nõmme (inventory 9, 1916), Hungerburg (inventory 9, 1902-1917), as well as eviction and relocation of Jews from Estland (inventory 2 and 9, 1846-1914), Weissenstein (inventory 9, 1893-1903) and Wierland (inventory 9, 1893-1900) Counties, applications for permission to reside outside the Pale of Settlement (inventory 5 and 9, 1874-1905), eviction of Jews according to the circulars of the Ministry of the Interior Affairs (inventory 9, 1909-1912) and population census (inventory 5 and 9, 1874-1916).
Moreover, a lot of files in the collection concern passport and certification issues, such as cases on the invalidation of craft certificates (inventory 9, 1886-1898), verification of craft certificates (inventory 9, 1911), issuance of passports (inventory 2 and 9, 1834-1878), tickets (inventory 2, 1831-1846), permits to receive trade documents (inventory 9, 1893-1917), permits for trade (inventory 9, 1886-1914), registration books (inventory 9, 1916) and requests for permission to open a factory, warehouse or store (inventory 9, 1904-1912).
Part of the collection contains files concerning police units and supervision, including cases on the Jews wanted by the police (inventory 3, 7, 9 and 10, 1869-1902), on releases from custody (inventory 2 and 10, 1831-1872), murder and violence cases (inventory 2 and 10, 1801-1872), as well as cases on illegal residence (inventory 8 and 9, 1872-1913), illegal trade (inventories 9 and 10, 1880-1913), illegally issued craft certificates (inventory 9, 1911) and theft (inventory 2, 6 and 10, 1849-1889).
In addition, twenty-seven files of the collection relate to spiritual life in Estland (1832-1916, inventories 1, 2, 5, 9 and 10), including conversion of Jews to Russian Christian Orthodoxy (inventory 2, 1832-1850), conversion to Judaism (inventory 10, 1913-1914), petitions from members of the Reval Jewish community on synagogue issues (inventories 5, 6 and 9, 1860-1876), a case on the opening of a synagogue (inventory 9, 1869), as well as cases on the repair of a synagogue in Reval (inventory 9, 1901-1902), on the prohibition of the activities of a private Jewish school in Reval (inventory 5, 1878-187), on the elected members of the board of the Jewish Prayer Society in Reval (inventories 5 and 9, 1882-1891), election of members to the Jewish spiritual government (inventory 9, 1899-1917) and on circumcision issues (inventory 9, 1919).
The collection also contains metric books and files with statistical information (inventories 3, 4, 9 and 10, 1871-1916), including cases on the submission of information about the number of synagogues and rabbis to the Department of Spiritual Affairs (inventory 10, 1911-1916), on the order of keeping metric books for Jews serving in the police (inventory 3 and 4, 1854-1871), on the approval of the metric books of Jews in 1891 (inventory 9, 1890-1894), on the preparation of the metric books of Jews (inventory 9, 1895-1900), as well as information on the number of Jewish residents in Estland (inventory 9, record 5651 of 1901).
The files of the present collection also include six cases on the announcement of the Senate's decrees (inventories 5, 9 and 10, 1877-1893) to the elders of the Jewish chapel (inventory 5, 1877-1878) and to the residents of Reval (inventory 9 and 10, 1877-1893). There are sixteen files on real estate ownership, in particular, on the issuance of permissions to purchase real estate (inventory 9, 1900-1917). Moreover, the present collection contains 9 administrative complaints and lawsuits (inventories 1, 2, 6-9 and 12, 1826-1913), as well as six cases regarding military service (inventories 2, 4, 9 and 11, 1842-1894).
The collection includes twenty-three cases regarding financial issues, among them are cases on the collection of debts and fines (inventory 2, 5-7 and 9, 1802-1893), on allowance (inventory 6 and 9, 1868-1890), as well as a case on salary exemption (inventory 7, 1876).
- Archival history:
- The archives of the Board of the Governorate of Estland was established in 1852, after the elimination of the German expedition (German department) and the establishment of the general department of administrative affairs. In the Republic of Estonia, the fund was registered in the Estonian National Archives in Tartu in 1932. Fourteen inventories were compiled between the 1960s and the 1980s, as well as name, geographical and subject indices. In 2001, the inventories were entered into AIS, the electronic system of the Estonian National Archives.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
In 1783, the Reval Governor's Board was established as the government of Estland. The institution functioned till the end of 1796. It was replaced by the administration of Livland, Estland and Courland governors subordinate directly to the Senate.
The Governorate of Estland was ruled by a civil governor. From 1802 till 1876, the Governorate was subordinate to the Baltic governor-general, the Senate and the Russian Ministry of Interior. Their functions were limited to the special rules and privileges of the Baltic nobility.
Initially, the Board of Governorate Estland consisted of German and Russian expeditions (German and Russian departments). The German expedition was abolished in 1852 and later replaced by the general presence office (Russian: канцелярия общего присутствия).
The post of civil governor was eliminated in 1917. However, the Board of Governorate Estland continued operating until the German occupation of Tallinn (Reval) in 1918 during the First World War.
- System of arrangement:
- The inventories are divided into series, or types of documents and are ordered chronologically within the main structural units of the governorate board.
- Access, restrictions:
- The collection is open for reference at the Historical Arсhive of the Estonian National Archives.
- Finding aids:
- The inventories can be found in “AIS,” (http://ais.ra.ee) at the Estonian National Archives' virtual reading room (www.ra.ee/vau), and individual records can be searched by keywords (juudi, евре*, hebrä* etc).
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Aviva Katourkina, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People; Tatyana Shor
